» 7th Gradehttp://davinciwaldorfschool.org
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 17:26:54 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1In The Classroom 11-13-13http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/11/17/in-the-classroom-11-13-13/
http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/11/17/in-the-classroom-11-13-13/#commentsSun, 17 Nov 2013 18:46:41 +0000http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/?p=1988Dear Parents, This time of year brings an opportunity for deepening in learning. Routine and rhythm have been established in the classrooms creating a calm and order that can allow class work to flourish. A new level of interest is active both in students and teachers. We can see this in the activity of small hands that are ready to knit, and in the maturing minds that are enthralled in science experiments. Take a few minutes to see what learning can be- alive, imaginative, rigorous and lasting. ~ DVWS Faculty 7th & 8th Grade Block: Chemistry- metabolism demonstration of sugars, bases, acids and enzymes. These reactions are happening all around us and in us. Students are able to observe these events firsthand in a microcosmic experiment. Spanish: Conversation games have kept us laughing and learning about irregular verbs and adjectives. Handwork: Machine sewing. Beginning to sew pants. Music: Music theory in the circle of 5ths, and understanding different scales. Movement: Capture the Flag. 5th & 6th Grade 5th/6th Graders help 1st grade knit.Block: Drama- play practice of A Wrinkle in Time. Come see the production on Nov. 20th at Matthews Middle School. Math Skills: Metric conversion and graphing. Students classified all of their Halloween candy by type and are graphing the results. Reese’s came out on top at 132. Spanish: Conversation games have kept us laughing and learning about irregular verbs and adjectives. Movement: Baton relay race. Extra Lesson: Obstacle courses requiring teamwork, math frisbee, balance beam beanbag toss, and form drawing. Language Arts Skills: Grammar- adjectives of quantity and quality. Handwork: 5th Grade- casting on and knitting in a rib pattern for socks. 6th Grade- embroidery cloth for handwork bags. Music: Music reading for recorder -quite different from string instruments. Singing parts. Movement: Baton relay race. 3rd and 4th Grade Block: Human and Animal. Discovering how humans are similar and different from animals, beginning with the study of the cuttlefish and field mice. Arts: Form drawing. Language Arts: Writing paragraphs, introducing “describing words,” and reading “tall tales” such as Ol’ Paul about Paul Bunyan. Math Skills: Problem solving using story problems and skill review. Movement: Builders and Bulldozers relay. Music: Songs about trades. Finding and playing songs on the flute that are familiar to our singing voices. Handwork: Finishing crocheted flute cases. Spanish: The children have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting some Bible stories they heard last year…this time in Spanish! Even the tiniest details aren’t lost on these kids. 2nd Grade Block: Math-place value. Learning to stretch numbers. Stories from Number Town continue unfold as two wanderers leave Number Town and encounter an Indian woman who trades in beads. She keeps track of her beads by grouping them in sacks by tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. To keep track of how many sacks she had to trade, she wore a necklace of colored beads- orange for a thousand, red for hundreds and so on. Students are given necklaces each day to practice place value and number stretching skills. Spanish: The children delighted in reenacting the story of Stone Soup by making a pot of their own- and eating it. Delicioso! Handwork: Knitting and purling a rainbow ball. Music: Flute practice. We wrote our first song about autumn. Movement: What time is it Mr. Wolf?- a game of anticipation. Extra Lesson: Painting exercises to develop use of outer and inner space. 1st Grade Block: Form Drawing. Students develop essential visual-spatial and motor skills. Math Skills: Using the four processes. Spanish: Spanish Animal Bingo has been officially declared “the best game ever.” Handwork: Our first knitting day. The fifth and sixth graders, now confident in knitting, visited the class to lend a hand. Music: Listening skills, tone identification, songs with fine and gross motor movements. Movement: What time is it Mr. Wolf?- a game of anticipation. Extra Lesson: Developing awareness of the six directions, and hand and finger strengthening. Body geography. Early Childhood The kindergarten classes take weekly hikes to a natural, wooded area to play, explore, build, and do simple woodworking projects. The one-mile round trip allows for many opportunities to run, roll, jump, zig-zag, and hike on non-landscaped, sometimes unpredictable, natural terrain. This is wonderful for balance and responsive movement! We return with hardy appetites for hot soup and oatmeal. Parent-Child classes meet each week to share circle time with autumn rhymes and finger games, a hearty snack and parenting experiences. Parents in the class are reading The Incarnating Child, discussing children’s drawings, and learning how to crochet.

This time of year brings an opportunity for deepening in learning. Routine and rhythm have been established in the classrooms creating a calm and order that can allow class work to flourish. A new level of interest is active both in students and teachers.

We can see this in the activity of small hands that are ready to knit, and in the maturing minds that are enthralled in science experiments.

Take a few minutes to see what learning can be- alive, imaginative, rigorous and lasting.

~ DVWS Faculty

7th & 8th Grade

Block: Chemistry- metabolism demonstration of sugars, bases, acids and enzymes. These reactions are happening all around us and in us. Students are able to observe these events firsthand in a microcosmic experiment.

Spanish: Conversation games have kept us laughing and learning about irregular verbs and adjectives.

Handwork: Machine sewing. Beginning to sew pants.

Music: Music theory in the circle of 5ths, and understanding different scales.

Movement: Capture the Flag.

5th & 6th Grade

5th/6th Graders help 1st grade knit.Block: Drama- play practice of A Wrinkle in Time. Come see the production on Nov. 20th at Matthews Middle School.

Math Skills: Metric conversion and graphing. Students classified all of their Halloween candy by type and are graphing the results. Reese’s came out on top at 132.

Spanish: Conversation games have kept us laughing and learning about irregular verbs and adjectives.

Music: Songs about trades. Finding and playing songs on the flute that are familiar to our singing voices.

Handwork: Finishing crocheted flute cases.

Spanish: The children have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting some Bible stories they heard last year…this time in Spanish! Even the tiniest details aren’t lost on these kids.

2nd Grade

Block: Math-place value. Learning to stretch numbers. Stories from Number Town continue unfold as two wanderers leave Number Town and encounter an Indian woman who trades in beads. She keeps track of her beads by grouping them in sacks by tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. To keep track of how many sacks she had to trade, she wore a necklace of colored beads- orange for a thousand, red for hundreds and so on. Students are given necklaces each day to practice place value and number stretching skills.

Spanish: The children delighted in reenacting the story of Stone Soup by making a pot of their own- and eating it. Delicioso!

Handwork: Knitting and purling a rainbow ball.

Music: Flute practice. We wrote our first song about autumn.

Movement: What time is it Mr. Wolf?- a game of anticipation.

Extra Lesson: Painting exercises to develop use of outer and inner space.

1st Grade

Block: Form Drawing. Students develop essential visual-spatial and motor skills.

Math Skills: Using the four processes.

Spanish: Spanish Animal Bingo has been officially declared “the best game ever.”

Handwork: Our first knitting day. The fifth and sixth graders, now confident in knitting, visited the class to lend a hand.

Extra Lesson: Developing awareness of the six directions, and hand and finger strengthening. Body geography.

Early Childhood

The kindergarten classes take weekly hikes to a natural, wooded area to play, explore, build, and do simple woodworking projects. The one-mile round trip allows for many opportunities to run, roll, jump, zig-zag, and hike on non-landscaped, sometimes unpredictable, natural terrain. This is wonderful for balance and responsive movement! We return with hardy appetites for hot soup and oatmeal.

Parent-Child classes meet each week to share circle time with autumn rhymes and finger games, a hearty snack and parenting experiences. Parents in the class are reading The Incarnating Child, discussing children’s drawings, and learning how to crochet.

]]>http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/11/17/in-the-classroom-11-13-13/feed/0In The Classroom 10-28-13http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/10/29/in-the-classroom-10-28-13/
http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/10/29/in-the-classroom-10-28-13/#commentsTue, 29 Oct 2013 15:52:42 +0000http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/?p=1817Dear Parents, Below is a peek into last week’s goings-on in the school. There are so many things to say, but here are just a few to share. It is a joy to greet and teach your children each day! From the DVWS Faculty 1st Grade Block: Qualities of Number. Students are discovering the truth of numbers in nature- the rose and the apple are 5, the honeycomb is 6 and the clover is 3- or 4 if you are lucky! Math Skills: Reinforcement of number sense through body geography and movement- step counting and jumping rhythms. Language Arts Skills: Developing and continuing phonetic awareness. The students are collecting items and sorting them by beginning sound and letter. Spanish: Hansel and Gretel story, and numbers from 1-20. Movement: Seasonal cooperative games. Handwork: Learning how to cast on stitches. Music: Learning soft breath for excellent flute playing skills! Extra Lesson: Left to right tracking. Awareness of feet and hands. Other Highlights: The class baked bread in the shapes of letters, and continued its weekly contemplative nature walk. 2nd Grade Block: Math: Addition and subtraction in the vertical. Number bonds. Introduction of larger numbers, all in the context of Native American and saint stories and legends. Math Skills: Repetition of math facts up to 12. Review and continuation of place value. Language Arts Skills: Consonant blends and vowel usage and exceptions. Spanish: Stone Soup, numbers 1-100, and preparation for Dia de los Muertos/ Day of the Dead. Movement: Seasonal cooperative games. Handwork: Finishing knitted lions. Music: Singing in “call and response” style; pentatonic flute playing. Extra Lesson: Bilateral integration through movement. Point and Periphery painting exercise. 3rd and 4th Grade Block: Math: Review of long division and measurement. Math Skills: Assembling and using scales- finding balance. Times tables reinforcement. Ongoing visual and mental math- thinking on your feet in time and visualizing an equation. Language Arts Skills: Reading for content and comprehension. Preparing a first book report. Spanish: Joseph and His Brothers, fall season, Dia de los Muertos/ Day of the Dead. Movement: Introduction of skill-based and boundary games. Handwork: Starting to crochet a flute case. (see photo) Music: Singing in quodlibet (Latin for “as it pleases”) in preparation for singing in rounds, and playing diatonic “c” flute. 5th and 6th Grade Block: Astronomy. Movement of the Sun. Students observe where the sun rises and sets each day. Math Skills: Metric Measurement. Language Arts Skills: Spelling review. Noun and adjective classification. Spanish: The Adventurers! Dia de los Muertos/ Day of the Dead. Movement: 5th – pentathlon introduction and endurance training. 5th and 6th – endurance training through mile-long runs, and kickball. Handwork: 5th- knitting swatches before beginning to knit socks. 6th- hand sewing and embroidering handwork bag. Music: Singing in parts; recorder playing in parts. Orchestra: Working with rhythm and more difficult time signatures. Extra Lesson: Upper and lower body movement differentiation. Spatial planning through form drawing. 7th and 8th Grade Math Skills: Group 1-Pre-algebra introduction. Group 2- Algebra 1 Block: Organic Chemistry. Experimenting in the kitchen with sugars, starches and proteins. Spanish: South American culture and geography, and Dia de los Muertos/ Day of the Dead. Movement: Building endurance running a mile; archery. Handwork: Machine sewing and pattern planning. Music: Choral music reading and recorder ensemble in parts. Orchestra: Syncopated rhythm and sight reading. Early Childhood Exploring fall’s beauty in nature on hikes and in play. Making lanterns for Martinmas. Autumn songs and rhymes.

Early Childhood

]]>http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2013/10/29/in-the-classroom-10-28-13/feed/0Upcoming Eventshttp://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2009/05/28/upcoming-events-3/
http://davinciwaldorfschool.org/2009/05/28/upcoming-events-3/#commentsThu, 28 May 2009 16:34:18 +0000http://blog.watersedgewaldorf.org/?p=258The following events are coming up at Water’s Edge School: May 30, Saturday, 4:30 p.m. 5th-8th grade class play, The Miracle Worker, Matthews Middle School, Island Lake Monday, June 1, Fees due Thursday, June 4, 7 p.m., Where Do the Children Play Screening at Water’s Edge. Please RSVP to 847-526-1372. Friday, June 5, Last Day of school, Potluck/Picnic Also, Preschool/Kindergarten class – please remember that (despite what one of the calendars from the beginning of the year says) classes continue to June 5th, on the same schedule as the rest of the school. Kindergarten parents should also be aware that Kindergarten Graduation is on June 3rd. Please direct any questions to Donna Brooks. Did you stop by for Bagel Breakfast this morning? If not, you missed some great food and music! Be sure to catch the last one for the year, next Thursday morning at dropoff. The Water’s Edge Waldorf School Weblog will continue with it’s regularly scheduled programming through next week. During the summer, check back weekly as we hope to still get one or two posts in each week throughout the summer. If you have any great summer stories or pictures to share, please send them along to either watersedgeschool@sbcglobal.net or amy@rayndragon.com.

Thursday, June 4, 7 p.m., Where Do the Children Play Screening at Water’s Edge. Please RSVP to 847-526-1372.

Friday, June 5, Last Day of school, Potluck/Picnic

Also, Preschool/Kindergarten class – please remember that (despite what one of the calendars from the beginning of the year says) classes continue to June 5th, on the same schedule as the rest of the school. Kindergarten parents should also be aware that Kindergarten Graduation is on June 3rd. Please direct any questions to Donna Brooks.

Did you stop by for Bagel Breakfast this morning? If not, you missed some great food and music! Be sure to catch the last one for the year, next Thursday morning at dropoff.

The Water’s Edge Waldorf School Weblog will continue with it’s regularly scheduled programming through next week. During the summer, check back weekly as we hope to still get one or two posts in each week throughout the summer. If you have any great summer stories or pictures to share, please send them along to either watersedgeschool@sbcglobal.net or amy@rayndragon.com.